2010
Feb 19: Yikes! Been running EI workshops with managers in an organization and I always ask them what emotions they see in their departments. There is usually a mix. I was shocked when 90%+ said they were seeing fear and almost as many anger. There was a complete lack of positive emotions. We changed the rest of the workshop around to provide some coping mechanisms for these managers and to help them better manage the emotions of their staff. I understand the fear - fear of layoffs, fear of change, fear of a changing world - but it was almost paralyzing people rather than centering attention on the actions necessary to constructively deal with the source of these fears.
Feb 16: Heading to Brazil at the end of April to give a presentation. Never been, looking forward to it.
Feb 9: Interesting NYT story about the most e-mailed NYT stories. These, generally, were stories with a lot of emotional content, and often, positive emotional content.
Feb 8: Doing my first TTT for the MSCEIT in Denmark at the beginning of April. We will finally have people in Europe who can certify end users in the MSCEIT!
Feb 6: Change in date for our next UK certification session - now it's second week in May!
Jan 7: Reading 'Bright Sided' by Barbara Ehrenreich. Helps validate our approach that all emotions are important and adaptive.
Jan 4: Happy new year!
2009
Dec 27: Need to start getting the word out for our upcoming March workshop in New Haven! Just a few months away. '09 was good, and '10 will be great. .
Dec 1: Yikes, time flies! In last two days I have been contacted by two previous clients who are re-launching their MSCEIT and EI coaching initiatives. Also looking forward to doing TTT for MSCEIT certification outside the US.
Oct 27: New dates for the UK in 2010. May 4-5-6 and October 5-6-7!
Oct 25: Posted new info on how to bring us, and our training, to you. www.ieskills.com/bringustoyou.html describes how to do so.
Oct 16: Saw Susan yesterday and we decided to do UK workshops each May and October.
Oct 11: Susan had a great workshop in Ireland and then delivered a 2-day EI workshop in Chicago.
Oct 10: We'll do our 3-day MSCEIT/EI workshop March 2010 at Yale University in New Haven Connecticut USA.
Oct 8: writing a chapter on EI. The subtitle is "20 Years Later". When this edited book is published in 2010 it will have been 20 years since Jack and Peter wrote their 1990 article outlining an ability model of EI. How time flies.
Sep 18: Had one of the best trips ever. Gave a talk in Santander Spain. Fun conference, passionate people, beautiful place, and great food! Will post pics soon. Also will try to get some video of my talk.
Sep 12: Presenting in Spain next week -- see www.emotionalintelligence2009.com
Sep 12: See Susan's talk in October: www.eiskills.com/sktalk.html
Sep 8: From Paris. Just finished a 2-day MSCEIT session for a company. Tired after two, long days, but these are great sessions. Everyone, every single person, was very focused on learning and bringing value to the company. Quite unusual and energizing. The fatigue is just the jet lag! But head home tomorrow.
Aug 19: working on emotional literacy program for high school students. May have a chance to pilot it early next year.
Aug 17: Now what? Given the continued interest in the MSCEIT we need to do another course in the US prior to March 2010 in New Haven. Susan will be in Ireland in September and we are committed to holding two MSCEIT sessions annually in Europe (UK, Ireland). Added a photo to the Places We've Been page.
Aug 7: Really fabulous MSCEIT session last week, followed by 3 days of Emotional Literacy for Educators train the trainer workshop (our first ever).
July 18: Susan is set for Ireland in September and will present a seminar discussion on spiritual intelligence. (See www.eiskills.com/dublin09.html)
July 12: Two excellent events coming up, although a bit of overlap. Our 3-day EI/MSCEIT Course Aug 3-4-5 and then our first-ever Emotional Literacy for Educators course August 5-6-7, both at Yale.
July 2: Great Toronto course. Learned a lot! Thanks to all.
June 29: Ready for our two-day Toronto course July 1 and 2 after the MHS conference. We have some new materials as always and new ideas to compress 3 days into 2. Susan had a good session with MBAs at Cornell this weekend.
June 8: Revised our workshop materials - again. Added a demo of an intelligence test to show that the MSCEIT feedback needs to be handled much differently than a 360 or self-report. For example, we don't suggest that you review each question and answer on the MSCEIT. In fact, doing so provides the answer key and invalidates the test taker's future responses!
June 4: Great session with 65 professionals from a health care company through the Yale SOM Exec Ed program. I love these hands-on sessions.
May 17: Have a Toronto course followed by a 3-day course in New Haven. Have a few EI-related talks this summer as well. The interest is being maintained - something that surprised me a few years back - but surprises me less so now.
May 10: On the road. 7 days in France with a group of execs, home for a day, then off to U-Wisconsin Madison to speak to crime lab managers (I think my name played a role in my selection). And to top it off, a special request for a 2-day MSCEIT course over the weekend. But they were all energizing.
Apr 16: upcoming 2-day weekend course in May will focus on the MSCEIT. Good for people familiar with assessment and coaching who want to add MSCEIT to their tool kit.
Mar 29: Superb session on EI. Included a colleague doing emotional agility work -- stressing the physicality of emotion! Great stuff.
Mar 20: Trying to pin down dates for a special 2-day weekend MSCEIT-only course. Contact me if you are interested in coming to New Haven May 9 and 10 or June 6 and 7.
Mar 11: Wow, just finished our 3-day course. Great experience, learned a lot!
Mar 7: Finished revising the interactive Powerpoint feedback process. I updated slides, edited some language and also, included material to allow for 4 different types of feedback.
Mar 3: Full house expected for next week's 3-day certification training. It's a really interesting group of people and we are anticipating a terrific learning experience for all.
Feb 20: I am proposing a collaborative feedback approach to MSCEIT feedback. Our new approach will actually promote not one but four approaches to feedback. The basic one is to follow the model, using the Blueprint. Another is to use the levels of feedback approach, starting with info that verifies one's self-concept. Third is the strengths approach which makes the most sense for people who have one or more 'low' scores and especially when one of the low scores is emotion management. Fourth is the narrative approach which uses one or two client stories and weaves in their results to explain what happened and why.
Feb 4: Had excellent presentations in the UK and San Fran. It was supposed to be just on the ability model but expanded into more general discussion of skills and abilities beyond analytical intelligence.
Jan 24: Our March 9-11 MSCEIT course at Yale will be very good. We are making a few changes to the content. And, we are also offering a one-time, reduced fee for this course ($1000 off).
2008
Dec 13: Workshop scheduling is proving difficult as we are trying to juggle multiple, competing demands and schedules. We'll try to keep the site updated as to workshop dates. However, as always, we are interested in working with people to bring MSCEIT and EI skills training to their location.
Dec 5: Training went extremely well. Teacher training is usually about students, but Emotional Literacy for Educators gives teachers tools and techniques to impact their own lives.
Nov 15: Marc and I are running a 3-day train the trainer the beginning of December for the emotionally literate educator program. Just finished updating all of the materials and very excited about this effort.
Nov 12: Warning - this entry is a crass marketing effort. Spoke with someone today about the March workshop. As I was going through the format, the pre-work and the post-workshop follow-up, I felt that we have designed an excellent learning platform. We keep in touch with people after the formal session is over and this means that the learning is ongoing. I feel really good about what we have created and it is a very different experience than it was even a few years ago. I have also learned how to run a better workshop and manage myself more effectively. I love these workshops and look forward to January and March.
Nov 10: Here in the US, there continues to be positive feelings about our recent election. It is interesting to note that while Senator Obama received about 52% of the popular vote (vs 48% for Senator McCain), Obama has a 70% approval rating. Were a large number of McCain voters relieved that their candidate lost the election? Did they vote for McCain even though they felt it was not a good choice?
Oct 17: People who were rejected are better at spotting phony people - cool study just released. http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20081017/sc_livescience/rejectionfostersintuition
Oct 16: Looks like we'll do a 3-day MSCEIT and EI course in London at the end of January. Stay tuned for details.
Oct 14: Susan will be in Dublin to run a week-long executive coaching program. She'll end the trip with a MSCEIT course, also in Dublin.
Sep 18: See our lead article on "Emotional Intelligence: New Ability or Eclectic Traits" in the September edition of the American Psychologist!
Sep 12: Funny how things work. Had two different people email me about intuition and emotions. Very interesting topic. Intuition is probably as widely defined as EI, with vast differences in approach. Some see it as a pure cognitive process, coming from a wisdom point of view. Others see it as a feelings-based way of making decisions. The cognitive types claim that intuition is not an emotion process and so can be trusted. I think that's an old-fashioned way of viewing emotion, or the failure to differentiate mood from emotion.
Sep 10: I was talking with someone about the MSCEIT and our training workshops the other day and at the end realized I had spent a significant amount of time discussing the limitations of assessment, the specific limitations of the MSCEIT, and the faddish nature of EI or 'EQ' stuff. I just can't cheerlead for the MSCEIT, it does not feel comfortable. Part of that is me and part of it is the MSCEIT, with the last part simply being the result of having a data-driven view of the world. Yet I find the MSCEIT to be of enormous value to clients, and to me. People who "get" the MSCEIT are a bit more skeptical than others, a little more critical, and willing to live with ambiguity. So in many ways we self-limit the ability model of EI generally, and the MSCEIT specifically, and that is probably best.
August 26: Some exciting news about the MSCEIT and our EI training. There is vigorous debate (well, maybe that is a bit of an overstatement, let's just say that we discuss this with each other) regarding whether EI can be increased. There is little data on this issue from the ability model point of view. We just got some preliminary results from a small study of biz-school students. One group got EI training, a second got training on resilience and a third was a straight control group, receiving instruction on presentation skills. The training consisted of a course taught one evening and one morning each week (about 5 hours of in-class time each week) for four sessions over a 5-week period. The EI training group saw a significant increase in their MSCEIT scores, followed by a small but non-significant increase for the resilience group, and no increase for the control group. Good stuff, and we hope there is more to come!
August 8: Sometimes our training can really zap your energy, but this last 3-day session was invigorating. Having two of us train allows people to experience different styles and interactions.
August 1: Next week's course will be fun. Needless to say, just finished revising materials again. Not a major revision, just some additions and edits. I am finding that participants are coming with greater knowledge and sophistication and we need to provide a challenging workshop experience to meet their needs.
July 31: three excellent sessions this week. All were brief -2 hours - but high-energy and informative.
July 19: What a busy summer! We are getting ready for the August 4-5-6 MSCEIT/EI Skills workshop in New Haven. Still more changes to the format and the materials. We constantly update these materials based on the feedback we receive from people. That is one reason why we offer a refresher course deal for previous participants.
July 4: Just back from Chicago. MHS put on an excellent event. And we had a nice group for a post-conference MSCEIT Certification Session. I tried several new things which worked well, such as stop action practice feedback. People got real-time feedback and were able to make mid-course corrections.
June 28: Starting to put together a train the trainer approach for the 'emotionally literate educators' program. Hope to offer training this fall.
June 21: Chicago workshop will be very good. Since we only have 2 days rather than the 3 days we usually do, the pace will be quicker and the focus will be on the MSCEIT rather than the MSCEIT and coaching. But. we will have more intense feedback practice, and analyze 3 or even 4 MSCEIT profiles. Updated the MSCEIT Feedback Guide as well - not a major revision - but one that addresses how to better frame results.
May 31: Have just updated our online MSCEIT feedback slides. Certified users get access to this, and other, MSCEIT tools. Still time, and room, to register for the Chicago 2-day MSCEIT course.
May 19: Susan is in London doing a 2-day MSCEIT workshop. A similar 2-day session will be held in Chicago in July. It focuses on MSCEIT administration, interpretation and feedback and results in receiving MSCEIT certification (if you complete all of the requirements of course!). If you want to learn about teaching EI skills then you should come to our 3-day course in August.
May 10: Realized that we've let these updates slip. The main reason is that we started a blog for a course we were teaching and kept updating that site. So, I am posting some of the blog entries below.
May 10: New York Times reports a study of MBA students from 15 top schools. Students listed factors most important to them in a job. #1 was "Challenging and diverse job responsibilities". #2 was compensation, 3: work-life balance, 4: potential to make a contribution to society.
May 10: The interview with
psychologist Daniel Gilbert in a recent NY Times issue is a short
explanation of why money, or at least more money, does not result in
greater happiness. Read the interview here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/science/22conv.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin
May 10: Researchers are
becoming increasingly interested in emotions and decision making. A
recent NPR story talks about an
experimental
mood manipulation where people feeling sad were more willing than those
in a neutral
mood to pay more money for a small purchase. Link to story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89761759
Mar 20: Josh Freedman of 6 Seconds sent this to me today on Corporate Social Responsibility. I don't care all that much if ability EI predicts being a 'star performer' because I am not sure what it means or whether it's even a good thing in terms of one's (and my) values. For a better approach, see what Josh is doing and check this out: http://tinyurl.com/2flcfe
Mar 20: We will run a two-day MSCEIT Certification course in Chicago July 2 and 3 immediately after a two-day EI conference sponsored by MHS. Info on our MSCEIT course is here: www.eiskills.com/chicago.html. Info on the conference: www.mhs.com/icei
March 12: Day 1 of the workshop was difficult as it always is. This is very challenging material. But after the pre-work online, getting your own feedback one on one, practicing interpretations as a group, and finally, 4 chances to give or receive feedback, it clicked. We also had our first 'returnee' from a previous workshop and this went very well.
Mar 7: Very psyched about our upcoming workshop! As always, we have edited and added to our materials. Each session is different because of the unique mix of people as well as the new material. Next sessions are May 19-20 in London (a very special 2-day offering) and Aug 4-5-6 in New Haven at Yale.
Feb 28: While we emphasize the full range of emotions, positive emotions are more likely to broaden perspectives and motivate goal-oriented action. Consider what that means for political campaigns, especially in the US, especially now!
Feb 22: Read a manuscript that used the Managing Emotions section of the MSCEIT with 100+ teachers. Positive relationship with job satisfaction, likely mediated by the fact that emotion management correlated highly with self reports of positive affect. Basically, emotion management is associated with feeling good, which helps promote satisfaction with your job. (And teachers have a high burnout rates.)
Feb 16: Looking for training, certification or MSCEIT in Australia? Contact EISG-trained colleague Wally Howe, president of Psychological Assessments Australia, at www.psychassessments.com.au.
Feb 15: We have always thought it easy enough to translate MSCEIT results into interview questions. But we are now wondering whether we need to provide an explicit report or guide to help structure interview questions based upon MSCEIT results? Any ideas, let us know.
Feb 10: The MSCEIT can be taken in several languages. The report will be in English unfortunately, but at least the test taker can take the MSCEIT in their native language. However, only a handful are online: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Lithuanian, or Spanish.
Feb 7: Things are shaping up well for the March MSCEIT/EI Skills workshop. Our sessions include anywhere from 6 to about 14 people. We keeps things small to maximize the time you have to practice feedback and skill building. We will have people from around the world attending and it looks to be an exciting and interesting group. We have 2 more openings for March if you are interested in attending.
Feb 2: We are working with two business schools on EI skill development. The focus will be on responsible leadership through the use of these skills. EI, unmoored from a framework of values, is not worth pursuing.
Jan 17: "to promote emotional and intellectual growth"... This is part of the EI definition by Mayer and Salovey. If you look at the research on ability EI you see that a lot of the outcomes have to do with interpersonal relationships, and 'doing the right thing'. Combined with the notion that people's emotions are contagious, it means that leaders have a great responsibility for their own well-being and that of others. They have a moral responsibility to make good choices and assist others in their own emotional development and growth.
Jan 14: Workshop update - if you have attended an EISG MSCEIT certification workshop you can now attend any of our upcoming session for just a few hundred dollars to cover some of our costs. We found that some people took the course but then delayed using the MSCEIT. This option give you the refresher you need to be as successful as possible in your EI work. We think this is a good idea and hope you do, too. Right now, we have set this fee at $400 which we think is a great deal. Hope you think so as well.
2007
Dec 27: Students and researchers can always get access to our publications on EI through Jack Mayer's informative website. I forward the domain name emotionalintelligence.ws directly to his site.
Dec 26: Prices for the MSCEIT go up January 1 2008.
Dec 23: It looks like the MSCEIT and the ability model is finally making some headway in college and business school environments. We have one b-school using the MSCEIT this spring and another who will not only use the MSCEIT but also engage in a detailed EI training program based on the ability model. Good stuff.
Dec 2: We discussed our course offerings and have made two major decisions. First, future MSCEIT courses will always include EI skill development work and will be 3 days. Second, we will now offer our 1-day course focused on individual EI skill training to individuals. We have all of the materials developed and ready to go. Our next step is to develop materials we can use to tell people about these offerings (it's called marketing, something we have been poor at!). Meanwhile, read here for more information.
Nov 28: Read an endorsement of Susan's work here.
Nov 27: March 2008 - our next MSCEIT / EI Skills Certification Workshop at Yale University in New Haven.
Nov 24: Just back from the UK. We changed some of the materials - updated the cases and revised slides. Our pre-work online reading allowed us to get right to the heart of the matter and spend a good deal of time on practice MSCEIT feedback. Worked quite well. Really enjoyed working with everyone. (However, did not quite get the hang of punting on the River Cam.)
Nov 18: Looking forward to the EI/MSCEIT course this week at Cambridge University. Expecting a full house.
Oct 30: We decided to do a four-day course in March. Days 1 and 2 focus on the MSCEIT and days 3 and 4 offers skill building that provides you with tools to teach and coach EI.
Oct 18: Here is the link to Susan's keynote address: http://umassei.org/Events/HGCF_FallConference.html
Oct 14: Reviewed the materials we have developed for MSCEIT-certified users - the materials include interactive feedback online, client guides and even a feedback script. This seems fairly comprehensive to me. We revise these materials frequently, based on our own use and feedback from our certified trainers. This is a 'pitch' for you to attend a MSCEIT certification workshop that we run - coming up on LA in a few weeks and then in the UK in November. (see www.eiskills.com/ei-dates.html)
Sept 26: The Conference Board asked us to do a webcast. It's on October 17 and you need to sign up with them to participate. Go to: http://www.conference-board.org/webcasts/upcomingWebcast.cfm?id=1542
Sept 20: Susan is the keynote speaker at the Grinspoon, Garvey & Young Entrepreneurship Conference in Springfield Mass. The other speaker is founder of Monster - the online job search firm!
Sept 14: Emotional Intelligence for Educators program is ready. We train teachers, administrators and support staff. This one-day program can be expanded to include the development of in-school coaches and master trainers, as well as the emotional literacy curriculum for students (K-8). See www.ei-schools.org
Sept 10: We are ready for our next UK certification workshop to be held at King's College, Cambridge University.
August 25: Read an empirical article (under review) on supervisor EI and their subordinates' ratings of supervisor support. The correlation with total MSCEIT was .40 - with 38 supervisors rated by 794 employees.
August 11: Our EI Behavioral Outcome Scale has been developed - we are starting to collect some data.
August 10: Looks like the Management Report will be launched by September with a per-report price of about $24.
August 9: Excellent four-day MSCEIT Certification and EI Skills train the trainer session this week. A terrific group of people came to New Haven to learn all about the MSCEIT and how to develop EI skills.
July 30: We will unveil the new MSCEIT Management Report in our workshop next week. Details will follow soon!
July 23: Tremendous interest in EI in Singapore. See the photo from one of the training sessions.
July 5: Looking at behavioral outcomes of EI and, perhaps, of EI training. This means the start of possible behavior rating scales for EI. Stay tuned.
June 28: We will schedule MSCEIT and EI skills training sessions twice/year in London, twice/year in New Haven and twice/year in California.
June 6: Speaking to a group of HR managers in late July so I have been thinking about my topic and talk. HR managers need to know about EI: the field, history, approaches, relevance, measures, outcomes, and training. HR professionals don't need to be fluent, but they must be knowledgeable about EI and to have a critical perspective on this field.
June 2: Fabulous trip to Lithuania. Added a few days to the schedule to see the old town of Vilnius and the Baltic coast town of Nida.
May 19: David is traveling to Lithuania where he will give a talk on emotions and leadership. http://www.humanstudy.lt/index.php?tid=21
May 12: Susan is running a 2-day EI workshop in San Jose CA May 22-23. She is speaking at a conference in London on June 12, http://www.mhs.com/icei/schedule.aspx (Day 2)
April 28: Much of the work that we do - that is those of us working for EI Skills Group - focuses on services such as leadership training, OD (organization development), executive coaching and career development. Some of these services are outlined on this website.
April 19: Please take 5 minutes to complete an informational survey.
April 18: The BBC did a TV program on
intelligence and Jack Mayer appears toward the end. "Geniuses" were
given multiple ability tests, including the MSCEIT! See this link:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/downloadtrial/bbc2/horizon-videopodcast/rss.xml
Mar-31: We are moving ahead on work in schools, trying to determine how best to reach out to teachers and school administrators. The key will be to find and train excellent facilitators who can bring this work into schools. Considering a train the trainer session in the late Fall. Stay tuned for more info.
Mar-15: Excellent workshop, thank you to all of our wonderful participants. Realizing that we need to stress application of these skills rather than a sole focus on developing each skill in isolation.
Mar-8: Finally scheduled our first train the trainer sessions for EI skills. First ever course will be this June at Pepperdine University in Malibu California!
Feb-22: Again, the MSCEIT feedback process proves to be valuable. It is always interesting, but it can often yield new insights into someone, when given the right way. That way is to pose questions about a person and see what they think.
Feb-20: People wonder why the MSCEIT includes landscapes and abstract designs. After all, a rock does not have emotions. (There is a test item which includes a picture of stones.) However, the environment has features which communicate whether it is safe or dangerous, welcoming or a warning. I usually talk about marketing, logos, brands, and colors when discussing the validity of this section of the MSCEIT but I recently ran across a fun online test that illustrates how we react to aspects of the environment. Check out this link from the BBC and let me know what you think: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/disgust/index.shtml
Feb-11: We are revising an article on EI, which has caused me to read up on test validity. Reading this material has demonstrated that it is critical to have theory generate assessments. This is one strength of the ability model - it came first and the MSCEIT was developed from the model. In fact, we had a table of the 4-branch model in front of us (literally) as we were designing the MEIS, and later, the MSCEIT.
Feb-10: There is a huge challenge and conflict when researchers have a commercial product. The challenge is to write using strong language regarding what is, and isn't, EI while at the same time not 'selling' the concept. This is especially difficult because test authors get royalties from test sales. In other words, we claim that EI is an intelligence, best represented by our ability model, and best assessed by ability tests. The question is "How do we make this strong case without marketing the MSCEIT?" This might sound odd to you. After all, people market their products all the time. But academic researchers, or those of us trained in that way, have a very difficult time with any sort of marketing. Perhaps we continue just doing what we have done in the past: make it quite clear what our interests are in assessment and work hard to be cautious in our claims.
Feb-5: The edited book, Applying Emotional Intelligence, arrived on my desk today and it looks great. The mindfulness chapter is very interesting as is a chapter by Boyatzis on teaching competencies to students. Marc Brackett's chapter on school-based EI programs is well done. The publisher is Psychology Press. (Susan and David have a chapter in this book.)
Feb-3: We will go back to a 3-day MSCEIT certification course as the standard offering so that people can learn how to best apply the assessment. Researchers and some others can still attend for 2 days and get certified or learn about the MSCEIT.
Jan-21: A very successful London workshop! We covered a lot of ground in this session and the MSCEIT proved to be very helpful in generating questions about people. The attendees were terrific, asking excellent questions and with lots of valuable insights. Looking forward to our session in March in New Haven Connecticut.
2006
Dec 20: Affective forecasting is the ability to predict the 'emotional' future - to understand how various events will make you or others feel. This ability seems to set apart certain leaders, those who are scoring higher on ability EI.
Dec 7: The Emotional Blueprint, part of our EI skills training, is a very simple effective tool. People 'get it' right away and can begin to apply it after brief training and practice. Even if it is used to simply ask questions about situations, the Blueprint can be an effective tool.
Nov 26: Interesting MSCEIT results from India. While the average score for 125 people taking the MSCEIT was below average, the lowest scores were for the most language-intensive parts of the MSCEIT (Understanding and Managing Emotions). However, the low-verbal content of the Identify Emotions section had a mean of 102 and the 'odd' Using Emotions section was also in the average range (mean of 101). Using Emotions asks people to match physical feelings to different emotions and takes some people by surprise. While there are many cultural differences in terms of emotion display rules and other aspects of emotion processing, there do appear to be many cross-cultural similarities.
Nov 19: I am happy to announce that there will be a MSCEIT Certification course in London 15-16-17 January 2007. (Click here for more info.) I believe that this will be the first such course offered in Europe. Can't make this session? We meet next in New Haven Connecticut March 12-13-14 2007.
Nov 14: We received word from our test publisher that the youth version of the MSCEIT is on-line and ready for data collection and research use. Researchers should contact MHS (r&d@mhs.com) for more information. (dc)
Oct 28: The MSCEIT report - "the weird test with a big impact." You know when there are too many strings of events that occur within a short period of time that it can't be a coincidence? That is what has happened this week. We receive several emails and updates from people that attended workshops in the past indicating how deeply they have been impacted by their own results or by others results (if they are certified). The MSCEIT report can provide valuable insight at a deep level for a great many number of people. It does teach us something new and different than what other EI assessments measure. The test might seem odd as you take it, but we have seen it have a profound impact for a many people when the results are discussed further. It is like opening up a self awareness gap in the person around their emotional intelligence abilities and skills. (sk)
Oct 17: People ask how EI relates to Dan Goleman’s new book on Social Intelligence. There are many answers, and some follow. Our ability model can be applied to yourself or to interactions with others. Thus, you ask how the other person feels, how these feelings impact their thinking, why they feel this way and how do you manage these feelings? You can apply the model to you and another person as well as to groups. In addition, emotions communicate meaning especially about social interactions or one’s intent. Social constructionist theories of emotion posit that emotions are given meaning by social groups. The new SI book also includes discussions of emotional contagion among other emotion-based concepts. We’ll continue to focus on emotions and EI in our work. If you’re interested in social behaviors and styles you can also check out our ‘Interpersonal Needs Test’ on this site (Online Tests). (dc)
Oct 15: Spent the past few days facilitating a customized workshop in Santa Ana, CA for a group of managers. Using the MSCEIT and combining the tool with EI skill development training helps to create an in-depth level of self awareness for each of the participants around one's EI abilities, skills and behavior. As an EI practitioner it is a highly rewarding experience to observe "these moments of clarity" that surface in our workshops. It is rewarding because for each of "these moments of clarity" or "self awareness ah-ha's" then comes the need to want to change the behavior and perhaps through some additional coaching and/or self directed learning an improvement in that behavior. These improvements in behavior typically lead to enhanced relations with others and a better sense of how to manage ones own emotional self. (SK)
Sep 24: Very interesting study from N. Ireland suggesting that supervisor EI is related to their performance ratings - of the people on the factory floor they supervise. http://news.ulster.ac.uk/releases/2006/2622.html
Sep 21: Emotions drive performance. We will have a renewed focus on emotions in training and coaching. This means that we will teach more about what emotions are and examine their adaptive value.
Sep 6: Got a call today about ordering MSCEITs and that got me to think more about standards. Standards are important in assessment and consulting. What sort of standard do we have - EISG - and what standards do we want to promote? Do I set the bar too high or just right, or even, too low? Our new certification process is exhausting but proving to be invaluable. People do a lot of post-workshop work to get MSCEIT certified -- and some will not get certified. (dc)
Sep 5: Read some chapters in the EI and Everyday Life (2nd ed.) book - good chapter on empathic accuracy. Also re-reading Affective Computing (Picard) - highly recommended. (dc)
Aug 31: Here are some rambling thoughts, which after all, are what an informal log such as this is for. Our approach to EI has focused, to a great extent, on the intelligence aspect of the concept. We've done this, in part, to gain legitimacy for this modest idea that emotions can be intelligent. I am starting to believe that we need to be more balanced, and better embrace the emotion side. That means better explaining and including emotion theory in our work. (dc)
Aug 25: It's truly amazing when you hear people tell how they will use newly-learned emotion strategies. As part of a 1-day workshop, we had a teacher who said she never had thought to reframe a situation. In this case, taking a student who was a 'problem' and trying to see the world from the student's view, using this info to allow the student to use his natural moods and emotions in more productive ways. Can't wait to hear how this new strategy impacts the teacher, and her students. (dc)
Aug-20: I am amazed at how few cultural differences emerge with respect to the ability model as well as the MSCEIT. For example, the average MSCEIT score of 20 people in India, taking the MSCEIT in English, was 101, and the median was 100. The pictures task had the lowest average score of the 8 tasks. The model itself works well. In fact, I used it a few times - in the moment - to understand some team dynamics and take corrective action. The key difficulty was the mental model people have of assessment - as the experience base of this group (like most HR people, trainers etc) is with style assessments. (dc)
Aug-16: Learning experiences - our greatest learning experiences come when we move away from our comfort zone. Sometimes we are forced out of our comfort zone and other times we consciously shift ourselves out of our comfort zones. Although negative and painful emotions may arise during this change, in the end, we learn about ourselves and the people connected to us - perhaps even resulting in more positive emotional outcomes. (sk)
Aug-16: Now that my luggage has gone missing for 48 hours, the emotion management skills are much more important. As I have client meetings now, it's important to engage in some sort of effective strategy. Relaxation helps. Typing does, too. (dc)
Aug-13: Emotion management is not my strong suit, so it is with great trepidation that I venture forth on a 48-hour air journey to India via London. That means no carry-on - no cell, no laptop, no books. I will get to practice imagery and relaxation techniques and I hope that I have learned something these last 10 years or so!
Aug-7: Conducted a one day EI skill building workshop including the MSCEIT for a great group of people in Los Angeles last week and when I asked the group to respond to the question "raise your hand if you think your MSCEIT results support your behavior." Everyone in the group raised their hand and felt that their MSCEIT results were an accurate representation of how they take in and process EI information. This was interesting because this was a highly educated group of people and certainly could have openly disagreed with their results. The most important aspect of the day I observed was when they "accepted" their results they were eager and committed to focus on the skill building activities and continue to learn EI beyond the classroom (sk).
Aug-4: After conducting 6 MSCEIT feedback sessions on the phone I am still surprised at how people evaluate assessments. If you agree with the results, the test is valid - if not, well... There's more. It's also difficult to understand that the MSCEIT is an ability test, not self-report, not a competency measure, not a behavioral survey. It examines one's underlying emotional ability. As in the case above, you can score low but cope fine with remedial strategies. Or, score high but not utilize the ability. In reviewing MSCEIT scores I also am reminded that one great way to compensate for a low score is to have colleagues with high scores who can back you up. (dc)
Aug-1: Consider this story. A client of ours, a manager, was seen as a high-potential. He was very engaging when first meeting him. He had a lot of terrific ideas and was a can-do, high-energy person. But as the pressure mounts in the organization, other behaviors are noticed – by us and by his staff. His staff does not seem to like him – this was a surprise at first because he presents so well. In a recent review meeting, he was somewhat abrupt, didn’t listen and was condescending and bossy. Same thing happened today during a phone conference call. He is not managing well in these difficult times. Initially, I and my colleagues, were surprised by his MSCEIT scores – average all around, with the exception of Managing Emotions. That score was 83 (well below the mean). The MSCEIT, like any test, is fallible. But, sometimes, it does predict important outcomes and yields valuable insights. Now, we need to help this manager develop some remedial emotion management strategies. (dc)
July-26: What does EI predict exactly? Certainly, not everything, not every outcome or behavior. Does it predict sales, for example? Probably not. The key, it seems to me, is that you need to look at high-emotion content interactions over a period of time. Not transactions - like most sales - but strong interpersonal, unscripted interactions, especially under some sort of stress. (dc)
Jul-20: Looking at our data on self-reported EI and actual MSCEIT scores. Interesting results. People are a bit better at predicting certain MSCEIT tasks, like pictures. Even here, though, the correlation is about .30. It means that MSCEIT results can (still) surprise clients. It is a key advantage of the MSCEIT, and a key challenge as well. (dc)
July-20: After conducting an EI session with business professionals over the past two days a participant quoted the following as he was learning and understanding the emotional intelligence material being presented "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Had a great experience with this group - which is always a reminder that as human beings and business professionals we are hungry to have emotions and emotional information be widely accepted and incorporated in the organizations we are a part of on a daily and lifelong basis! (SK)
Jul-17: I was thinking that the idea that emotions are signals about relationships can be seen in the life of dogs. Take our 5-year old lab and 10 week old golden puppy. The puppy's sharp teeth are used in a playful manner, but the lab does not see it this way - or he didn't at first. After 2 weeks together, they are communicating their intent to play, rather than to attack, through noises and body posture. We do the same thing through bowed head, a flush of embarrassment or gritting of our teeth. They key is to 1) be aware of these signals, 2) to accurately determine their meaning and 3) act upon the signals. (dc)
Jul-10: Just received a great dissertation with a pre-test and post-test on the MSCEIT for experimental and control groups. There were significant increases in 'Stategic EI' for the experimental group who received many weeks of EI-based training. Very well done, very exciting. (dc)
Jul-9: We are re-launching this web page in order to provide an informal way to comment on the area. (dc)
Postings by David Caruso, unless otherwise noted.